15 Insane Things Celebrities Have Done to Get the Part

Some actors will do anything for a role — and, let’s be honest, that multi-million dollar paycheck. From extreme diet tactics to lose (or gain!) insane amounts of weight to piercing their nipples, the following A-listers have done some insane things in preparation for a role.

1. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams lived together for a month, with their on-screen daughter, so they could mirror the rhymths of a family in “Blue Valentine.”

2. Tom Hanks lost so much weight for his roles in “Philadelphia” and “Castaway” that he credits the yo-yo dieting for his eventual type II diabetes diagnosis.

3. Christian Bale is a notorious Method actor who relishes gaining and losing weight for his roles, but nowhere was his dedication more apparent than in his chilling transformation for “The Machinist.”

4. To play an AIDS victim in “Dallas Buyers Club,” Matthew McConaughey ate egg whites and chicken and lost over forty pounds.

5. Renee Zellweger ate 4,000 calories a day to gain twenty pounds to play Bridget Jones—twice. (Okay, it sounds fun!)

6. Rooney Mara truly pierced her nipple to get into character for her role in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”